How to tell a scam on CL?

I'm selling some wheels and tires off of my Ram on CL. I need these gone fast because I get my kids for Christmas (haven't seen them since Aug 2011). I created an ad and got a reply pretty quick. Here is my ad: Wheels and tires

I get this reply:

http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/pts/3482909253.html DODGE RAM WHEELS/TIRES,,,PLEASE GIVE ME A NUMBER TO CALL,TO GET DIRECTIONS,OR CALL ME --*,MY NAME IS ,THANKS ***

I Googled his number and it matched to a fellow who lives about an hour south of me by the same name in his email.

Does this pass the sniff test? I've never sold anything on CL before... What does the CL experts at GRM think?

Meet him in a public place if you are concerned.

bad grammar doesn't necessarily mean a scam, just poor education

The funny thing is, is that while I was posting that, I received another email from someone else. The second one looked very legit so I replied with my phone number. And he was very local...

We will see...

I doubt it's a scam if it has a local number on it, probably just not really computer literate. No big deal. Your wheels are a great price, you should sell 'em quick. If they fit my truck I would beg you to ship them to me.

scammy responses often go like "I will buy your parts at your price..." or "I'm interested in buying for my____, I'm stationed/work/travelling overseas..." Offers to pay with paypal for your security...

We just (yesterday) had a situation in a neighboring town where a guy was selling a cell phone on CL. He met the potential buyer at a local Bilo grocery store parking lot. Guy tries to rob him and they fight. Seller pulls a gun and shoots the robber who flees in his car a short distance before wrecking. Cops arrive and arrest him. I have not heard if they are charging the seller/shooter. Hopefully not.

Meet in a very public place. People are sketchy enough when things go 100% right. I had to meet a guy who looked like a total crackhead behind a Denny's after dark to sell my old laptop. Everything turned out fine, but it made me think about those stupid choices.

I dont think this sounds too scamish.

Well, less than an hour after I made my post, the second guy called me. He was about 15 minutes away and was willing to meet immediately. He had cash and made me a great offer. He had just bought a 3rd Gen Ram that had junk tires on the 16" swirly wheels. We met at a gas station and less than 5 minutes later, I had my cash and he had new skins for his truck. Easy peasy!

You guys have great advice and I will definitely heed it in the future! I have a garage full of parts and stuff from cars long gone that is just taking up space. Not to mention the SN95 GT that hasn't seen the light of day in about 8 months

spitfirebill wrote: We just (yesterday) had a situation in a neighboring town where a guy was selling a cell phone on CL. He met the potential buyer at a local Bilo grocery store parking lot. Guy tries to rob him and they fight. Seller pulls a gun and shoots the robber who flees in his car a short distance before wrecking. Cops arrive and arrest him. I have not heard if they are charging the seller/shooter. Hopefully not.

Hey, I thought that story sounded familiar. We are close!

stanger_missle wrote: Well, less than an hour after I made my post, the second guy called me. He was about 15 minutes away and was willing to meet immediately. He had cash and made me a great offer. He had just bought a 3rd Gen Ram that had junk tires on the 16" swirly wheels. We met at a gas station and less than 5 minutes later, I had my cash and he had new skins for his truck. Easy peasy! You guys have great advice and I will definitely heed it in the future! I have a garage full of parts and stuff from cars long gone that is just taking up space. Not to mention the SN95 GT that hasn't seen the light of day in about 8 months

Enjoy the kids!!

My two words of selling advice:

1) Mention explicitly in your ad "mention your favorite [LOCAL-TOWN-NAME-HERE] restaurant in the email so I know you're not a spambot." Bonus points for using em or other HTML voodoo to make it appear bold and red. I get the most poorly worded replies, but if they include a restaurant, I know they're at least human.

2) Always meet indoors at a public place first. My recommendation is McDonalds since you walk in, buy a coffee, and sit. Small transactions are done inside, larger transactions are done in the parking lot AFTER you've checked the buyer out, he's on store security camera, and there's a purchase record for your last location. As long as the goods aren't in plain sight, you won't get car jacked or robbed if you call off the sale.

I should note, I've never had a sale issue. This includes buying tires in a Walgreens parking lot from the back of a Ford Focus in Chicago at 10 PM (the guy had a bunch of sets sticker new; what can I say!). This includes selling phones and computer equipment in Dallas. I don't worry anymore now that I'm in Iowa, but these are easy to do!

I'm not carting my non-running MGB to a McDonald's parking lot so someone can look at it. Just use your head and common sense. I've never had a problem selling somethign from home.

On CL I've found any response that calls what you're selling the "item" is a scam. "Do you still have the item for sale" for example, is a clear indication.